>F THE 

Committee on Resolutions 

— Declaration — 


National Educational Association 

Forty-Third Annual Convention 

ST. LOUIS, MO. 


JUNE 27-JULY 1, 1904 












NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 


ST. LOUIS, MO., JULY 1, 1904 


The members of the National Educational Association , as¬ 
sembled in their Eorty-Third Annual Convention , make the 
following 


DECLARATION 


1. We cannot emphasize too often the educational creed frst 
promulgated more than a century ago that “ Religion , morality and 
knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness 
of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be 
encouragedThis declaration of the fathers must come to us now 
with newer and more solemn call when we remember that in many 
parts of our common country the fundamental questions of elemen¬ 
tary education—local taxation , consolidation of weak schools , rational 
supervision , proper recognition of the teacher as an educator in the 
school system , school libraries , and well trained and well paid 
teachers—are still largely unsettled questions, 

2. We would direct attention , therefore , to the necessity for a 
supervisor of ability and tact for every tow?i , city , county , and state 
system of public schools . Not only are leaders needed in this posi¬ 
tion who can appreciate and stimulate the best professional work , 
but qualities of popular leadership are also demanded to the end that 
all classes of people may be so aroused that every future citizen of 
the Republic may have the very best opportuitities for training i7i 
social and civic efficiency. 

j. The very nature of the teacher's task demands that that 
task be entrusted only to men and women of culture and of intellectual 
and ?noral force. Inadequate co?npensation for educational work 
drives many efficient workers from the school room and prevents 
many men and women o 


large ambition for service from entering 



the profession. It is creditable neither to the profession nor to the 
general public that teachers of our children, even though they can 
be secured , should be paid the paltry sum of $300 a year , which is 
about the average annual salary of teachers thruout the country. 

4. The Bureau of Education at Washington should be pre¬ 
served in its integrity, and the dignity of its position maintained 
and increased. It should receive at the hands of our lawmakers 
such recognition and such appropriations as will enable it not only 
to employ all expert assistance necessary, but also to publish in con¬ 
venient and usable form the results of investigations/ thus mak¬ 
ing that department of our Government such a source of 
information and advice as will be most helpful to the people in con¬ 
ducting their campaigns of education. 

3. We would emphasize the necessity for the development of 
public high schools wherever they can be supported properly, in 
order that the largest number possible of those who pass thru 
the elementary grades may have the advantage of broader training, 
and for the additional reason that the public elementary schools are 
taught largely by those who have no training beyond that given in 
the high schools . 

6. As long as more than half of our population is rural, the 
Rural School and its problems should receive the solicitous care of the 
National Educational Association. The Republic is vitally con¬ 
cerned in the educational development of every part of its territory. 
There must be no forgotten masses anywhere in otir Union of States 
and Territories, nor in any one of its dependencies. 

7. We believe that merit and merit alone should determine the 
e?nployment and retention of teachers, that, after due probation, 
tenure of office should be permanent during efficiency and good be¬ 
havior, and that promotions should be based on ftness, experience, 
professional growth, and fidelity to duty. We especially commend 
the efforts that are being made in many parts of the country whereby 
teachers, school officials, and the general public working together for 
a common purpose are securing better salai'ies for teachers and 
devising a better system for conserving the rights and privileges of 
all and for improving the efficiency of the schools. 

8. We declare further that, granted equal character and 
efficiency, and equally successful experience, women are equally entitled 
with men to the honors and e?noluments of the profession of teaching # 

g. We advocate the enactment and rigid enforcement of appro¬ 
priate laws relating to child labor, such as will protect the mental. 



moral and physical well-being of the child , and will be conducive to 
his educational development into American citizenship. 

10. The responsibility for the success or failure of the schools 
rests wholly with the people and therefore the public schools should be 
kept as near to the people as practicable; to this end v:e endorse 
the principle of popular local self government in all school matters. 

11. Since education is a matter of the highest public concern , 
our public school system should be fully and adequately supported by 
taxation / and tax laws should be honestly and rigidly enforced both 
as to assessment and collection. 

12. We congratulate and thank the management of the Louis¬ 
iana Purchase Exposition for giving education frst place in the 
scheme of classification, for the location and grandeur of its building , 
and for the extent and arrangement of the educational exhibits. 
Such recognition of education is in harmony with the genius of our 
democracy and will stimulate interest in popular education thruout 
the world. 


Committee 

on 

Resolutions 


Charles D. Mclver, of North Carolina, Chairman. 
John W. Carr, of Indiana. 

Amelia C. Fruchte, of Missouri. 

Margaret A. Haley, of Illinois. 

Anna Tolman Smith, of District of Columbia. 
Augustus S. Downing, of New York. 

S. Y. Gillan, of Wisconsin. 



















































